Faberwork helped a Telecom Operations Support System (OSS) Framework.
We show how boosting legacy systems can enhance innovation for new products.
Client
Faberwork’s client was a telecom operations firm which sought to expand its products by expanding into the Data Center Management market. The timetable was short since data centers were expanding rapidly and new entrants faced a unique opportunity. The Time-to-Market was short.
Challenge
The challenge that Faberwork and the client faced was to successfully expand the product line to a related but different area. They faced the issue of repurposing legacy computer code in a compressed time frame. This needed to be accomplished without a complete re-engineering of the system. Even relatively modest re-structuring faced severe cost and time constraints.
Solution
Repurposing legacy code is a substantial challenge for firms today. The pace of technology change is high and now a constant. Computer systems and systems architecture become archaic quickly as improvements emerge. And beyond this system’s risk, firms face the quickly changing face of business models.
For companies, strategies for adopting new software technologies without replacing legacy code have become essential. Basically, they need to repurpose rather than replace systems. The continuing need to update existing architecture demands it. Those strategies need to be a top firm priority. Efforts to boost the functionality of systems need to be continuous.
For Faberwork’s client, this meant that it needed to transform its telecom support system into a rapidly expanding market for software management in data centers. This was an important business decision for the firm which faced increasing challenges in its existing market and new opportunities in data centers.
Faberwork offered the needed changes which added a new layer to their existing systems, integrating their existing capabilities. The need to re-architecture their existing products to meet Data Center Management demanded that Faberwork take several important steps. A newly designed and developed visualization of the network’s topology was required. Faberwork used D3JS, JSF, IceFaces, and AngularJS for this work.
Because the system was dynamic, a mechanism for software testing was needed. In addition, it needed to be automated. The automation of software testing was added using Selenium, Java, and Cucumber.
The legacy web application built using JSF and IceFaces needed to be migrated to their newest versions. Faberwork researched and prepared a Proof of Concept (POC) using a new D3JS library called Cytoscape. Once the POC was approved by the Client, Faberwork rewrote the UI layer to overhaul the firm’s Topology Visualization Component.
The most important accomplishment was to make sure that the aforementioned changes did not have an adverse effect on the backend architecture.
Overall, their product was adapted to address the Data Center Management needs. The Exhibit below provides a general description of the solution that Faberwork implemented. Both Top of Rack (TOR) as well as Spline/Leaf designs were used.
Result
The Faberwork upgrade provided the customer with:
- Better graphics
- Faster performance
- Improved navigation
- Mandatory security
The project, overall, left the firm well-positioned to offer a new product to the Data Center Data Management. The work was highly successful, and the business was able to boost its telecom-designed architecture to a Data Centered Data product.
“For Faberwork, this was a successful project demonstrating our belief that technology boosters are becoming important choices for companies stressed by IT and business innovation. And most importantly, the work met the customer’s needs in the time mandated, leaving us with another satisfied customer.”
—Yogesh Sharma, Senior Vice President (Delivery) at Faberwork
